County Championship: James Vince hits stylish century as Hampshire take control against Kent

James Vince (left) and Liam Dawson (right) shared a stand of 82

A typically-stylish century from James Vince helped Hampshire take control on the second day against Kent at Canterbury.

Captain Vince's fluent 111 off 118 balls was the spine of the home side's strong reply as Kent took their first innings from 271-7 to 305 all out.

Nick Gubbins (69) and Liam Dawson (63 not out) lent trusty support as they closed on 337-4, a lead of 32.

Earlier Keith Barker ended with 6-53 as Kent's innings was quickly wrapped up.

The all-rounder carried on the home side's good work with the new ball late on day one with the early wickets of Darren Stevens and Nathan Gilchrist to complete his first five-wicket haul of the season.

After the loss of the in-form Joe Weatherley for 18, Kent sensed the door was ajar when Ian Holland fell lbw to a cracker from Nathan Gilchrist that nipped back off the seam to leave them 57-2

But Vince unfurled his trademark princely cover drives and was equally dismissive through the leg side when the bowlers strayed too close to his pads.

He brought up his fifty off 48 balls with 40 of those coming in boundaries as he and Gubbins rattled along putting on 136 before the latter poked Gilchrist to Jordan Cox.

Vince's only real scare came on 68 when he inside edged another cover drive off Gilchrist just past his stumps down to the fine-leg boundary. He went on to reach his 27th first-class hundred off 99 deliveries and it was a surprise when he was eventually out, steering Gilchrist to Cox at first slip for 111 having caressed 19 boundaries.

Dawson duly completed his half-century with wicketkeeper Ben Brown unbeaten on 42 in a stand of 62Stylish Vince puts Hampshire in control at Kent as Hampshire continued to turn the screw.

Hampshire's Nick Gubbins:

"James Vince is an absolute pleasure to bat with. He puts pressure on the bowlers and he was unbelievable. I'm really happy for him.

"It was nice to make a contribution, I've felt pretty good all year and it was nice to see guys making contributions all the way down the order.

"Credit has to go to our bowlers. You saw how easy it was to score when the ball gets old so to keep them to 305 was superb from our seamers."

Kent coach Matt Walker:

"We started ok, bowled quite well for the first 10 overs or so and threatened nicely, then the wheels sort of came off in that second session.

"172 runs and 30 odd boundaries is well below our standard. We just couldn't get our lengths right and couldn't get our lines right. We just didn't really have an answer.

"Barker and Abbas just stayed in the channel. That was our plan. We just didn't get it right. Certainly in that middle session we didn't create any pressure at all, there were too many leak balls."